


Newsroom Blues

by embro



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Harry, Fluff, M/M, News Anchor AU, Side Ziall, Smut, Top Louis, only brief mentions of both, side Sophiam - Freeform, silly jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 02:30:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2756243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embro/pseuds/embro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is a news anchor. He's also Harry's idol.<br/>Which means too much blushing and awkwardness and mix-ups when Harry gets the job as his co-anchor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Newsroom Blues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wonderously](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderously/gifts).



Harry was so sure he was ready up until the moment he stepped into the BBC Broadcasting House.

He’d been happy with his outfit choice, pleased by how his hair was sitting, and ecstatic that the horrid pimple he’d had on his chin for the last week had finally disappeared. The network had loved the clips of previous work he’d submitted, and he’d nailed the interview with them, and he’d practiced _that many times_ for the screen test he was about to do. So, he looked good and he felt good.

It all went to shit though when he walked into the building and bumped into Louis Tomlinson.

 _The_ Louis Tomlinson.

 _The Louis Tomlinson_. Harry used to skip his 9am Media Studies lecture at Uni every Monday morning during his last year _just_ so he could watch him on BBC Breakfast, and now here he was. Harry was still clinging to _The Louis Tomlinson_ ’s bicep from when he’d grabbed it a minute before to stop himself from falling. Harry gulped.

And Louis Tomlinson just grinned his cheeky, charmingly crooked grin. “Hi!”

Harry immediately let go of him and stood up straight, and hurriedly brushed at the arm of Louis Tomlinson’s suit jacket.

“What are you doing?” Tomlinson laughed, and wrapped his hand around Harry’s wrist to pry his hand away from him.

“I’m just – I touched you!” he squeaked.

Tomlinson just laughed again. “And it was a lovely moment, that. One to be remembered through the ages.”

Harry blinked, brain having trickled out of his ears at the sound of the news anchor’s voice. How could one person be so gorgeous? And witty? And why was he staring at Harry like that? The boy wasn’t worthy of being under the man’s gaze.

Tomlinson cleared his throat. “Umm, so. What are you doing in here? Do you need any help finding your way?”

Harry nodded. Then shook his head. Then made an indecipherable circle with it because he still wasn’t able to think. Why must all of Harry’s thoughts belong to _The Louis Tomlinson_?

“Right.” Tomlinson said with a stilted smile. “I’m going to, uh, go?”

“Oh!” Harry near-shouted, because that got his attention. The words _I_ and _go_ coming from Louis’ mouth was something he hoped to never hear again. “I’m here for a screen-test.”

And Tomlinson’s normal smile was back. “Great! Have you signed in with the front desk?”

“No?”

“You need to do that to get a pass to get through security, then I can show you the way! What are you going for? Something on BBC One?”

“BBC News, actually. For an anchor position.”

“That’s great! My show is looking for a new one now that Soph’s leaving, is it for BBC Breakfast?”

Oh shit! That’d be awful if it was, because Harry would never be able to concentrate. The slack-jawed admiration Harry had for Louis would be caught on camera for all the world to see every time the man spoke. Which he was bound to do; it was his bloody news program. Harry blinked his eyes slowly, trying to remember what he was asked because Louis looked like he wanted to run away again. “I don’t actually know. They didn’t tell me.”

“Oh.” Louis said with a strained smile, and Harry wondered what he’d done _now_. Had it been too obvious that he’d been staring at Louis’ lips? He allowed his eyes to flick up away from them, and saw that Louis was staring at the clock above the front desk. “Is it – okay, I know I made the offer to take you to where you need to go but I just realised I’m actually quite late and it’s so rude of me and I feel awful but is it all right with you if I – umm – well, leave you to it?”

Harry nodded slowly, and smiled because he’d never heard Louis talk that fast and it was, quite frankly, adorable. But when it hit him what Louis had said, that he had to cut there – whatever this was – short, he felt himself go teary. Which was so bloody embarrassing, and probably incredibly obvious, so he faked a sneeze.

Thing was, though, that Harry had always been a terrible actor, had been told that all through that one compulsory term of drama class in Secondary, so the fake sneeze came out sounding a lot more like a seal’s bark.

If Louis wasn’t completely turned off before, he most certainly would have been after that.

He sprung away from Harry with the shock of it, eyes going terribly wide and mouth dropping open. Before he slapped a hand over it, as if he was protecting himself from whatever illness Harry had.

And Harry desperately wanted to catch his wrist, tell him that his affliction wasn’t contagious; he’d been born odd, it was genetic! Instead, he just nodded his head, and gave Louis a grim, wet-eyed smile, and the man hesitantly smiled back before making a mad dash for it.

It wasn’t until Harry made it to the front desk, and the receptionist asked for his name, that he realised it was the first time that day he’d been asked that question. Louis hadn’t even cared enough to find it out.

\---

Security was another experience Harry would rather forget, having had to walk through the gates three times before he was cleared. He’d first off forgotten that he’d had his phone in his pocket, and then his wallet. It wasn’t until those were in a tray, and his boots and belt were beside them, that he could walk through without setting the alarm off.

He was a nightmare at airports.

Harry was pink-cheeked and short of breath with downcast eyes by the time he got to the room he was supposed to be in, both from embarrassment about his morning mishaps _and_ from exhaustion. He’d got lost somewhere along the way, and did three laps of the entire second floor before he realised he was on the wrong level.

Two women were waiting for him when he finally got there, and his heart stopped.

One of them he didn’t recognise, but the other he most certainly did. It was Sophia, Louis’ co-anchor. Or, ex-co-anchor as he’d just learn from the man himself.

“Welcome, Harry!” the other woman said, demanding his gaze. “I’m Caroline Watson, producer of BBC Breakfast. We spoke on the phone.”

“I – Yes. Uh – yes. S – sorry I’m late. I got lost.”

“You aren’t late, don’t worry about it!” Sophia said, plump lips pulled up into a smile that rounded out her cheeks perfectly. She was a stunning woman, even more so in person.

“Okay.” Harry said simply, and took the lone seat that was positioned in front of theirs’. “I didn’t realise this job was for – uh – this. Breakfast, I mean.”

“We kept it secret for a reason. Didn’t want the wrong people finding out about Sophia’s leaving.” Caroline’s grin widened, but her eyes hardened. It was a frightening look. “So, what are your thoughts?”

“I’m – fuck, I’m nervous.” Harry chuckled, then shrieked and covered his mouth with his hand. “Shit, I didn’t mean to swear! That time either! I’m – I’m so sorry. I swear I’m not usually this stupid. I just had a rough morning and I’m all over the shop. I ran into _The_ Louis Tomlinson, you see, and since then my brain has kind of been a big pile of goo? I think I need a few moments to let it solidify again or something. I’m – Christ, I’m so, so sorry.” He blushed, and stood up out of his chair. “I’ll see myself out.”

“Stay!” someone said, and both women jumped up. He wasn’t sure who had said it, both looked as eager as the other. The three of them just stood there, wide eyed, until Harry slowly lowered himself back into his chair and the others followed suit. It was awkward for all of five seconds before Sophia ran her hands along her thighs to smooth out her dress and cleared her throat. “What we mean to say is, please stay? You are our most – charismatic, I guess you’d say – candidate. We have very high expectations of you. From what we’ve heard of your work on the radio, and seen from the online clips you were in, you’d be perfect. Just what we need.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open, completely flabbergasted, because _honestly?_ This had to be some sick joke. “What – do you need, exactly?”

Caroline spoke up this time. “Someone that can keep up with Louis. Someone quick-witted and clever and just as charming. The others we’ve seen are promising journalists, but don’t make very good television. They’re stifling, to say the least. We need young blood and a fresh face.”

“But this is a news program. You guys do proper news. People watch it for the _news_ , not for banter.”

“You’ll obviously be expected to cover the news. You won’t be some little sideshow dog doing tricks.” Sophia assured him. “But we realised that, since Louis’ started, our hits have gone up impressively. There are more watching us than there are watching the breakfast show over on ITV, despite all their gimmicks, and we can safely say we owe it to Louis and his charm. If we could double that, have a co-anchor just as charismatic, we could double the hits. We do that, we get a bigger budget. See where we’re going with this?”

“You think that person could be me? That I could – get you those hits?”

Sophia shrugged. “You have the potential.”

“So – this isn’t a screen test?”

“More of a chemistry test, I suppose.” Caroline replied with a grin.

Harry widened his eyes and said “I don’t understand” despite the fact that he very much did.

His fears were confirmed when Louis walked through the door, as if he’d been summoned by the devil itself. Or maybe God. Harry hadn’t quite decided what Caroline was more like.

“Hey! It’s you.” Louis said with that disarming grin, and there went Harry’s brain again, melting out of his skull.

Harry managed to nod, though. At least he wasn’t completely incompetent.

“You’ve met?” Sophia asked, cheeks pulled back up into that lovely friendly smile.

“Yeah, we did, didn’t we Harry? Hadn’t realised I’d turned your brain into mush, though. Sorry about that.” He was laughing now in that way Harry had seen on TV. That way he’d dreamed about.

Only in his dreams, Louis was laughing at a joke he’d told, not at what a joke he _was._

Harry sucked in a breath and tried to still his nerves before he asked “You heard that?”

“Yeah, it’s being recorded.”

Harry frowned, but didn’t ask why. His confusion should have been obvious to them from the state of his face, but no one cared to elaborate on _why_ he was being filmed.

Except Louis, quite suddenly, said “Everyone’s interview is, don’t worry. Just sussing out how you look from what angle. Killing two birds with one stone and all that.”

“So, you’ve been listening in this entire time?”

“Yeah, but I did for the lady before you too. Don’t worry so much.”

“You two done?” Caroline asked, and both boys’ attention immediately snapped to her. She hadn’t even had to use a tone or anything, something about her just demanded blind following. “So, you two are going to go behind that desk over there and read from the teleprompter. It’s going to go slow, so you can ad lib. That’s what we’re watching out for, Harry, you’re ability to think on the spot. Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” Harry lied, and jumped out of his seat when Louis touched his shoulder.

“Steady there, mate. You’re a jumpy thing.” Louis laughed, and Harry’s face felt hot.

He liked Louis’ laugh, he really _really_ did, but he was quite tired of being at the tail end of it. The butt of his jokes, as it were.

That was witty, right? He could be witty. And he knew he was clever, he was full of good jokes and one-liners. He just had to find a way to get them out of his head; had to summon up the courage to vocalise them.

“O-over there?” Harry stuttered, and Louis just rolled his eyes and took a hold of Harry’s bicep and pulled. It was an odd thing to be as touchy with strangers as Louis was, but Harry wasn’t going to complain. He could still feel the heat from Louis’ hand after he pulled away to sit behind the news desk.

Then Louis looked up at him and blinked those pretty blue eyes, and arched one of his perfect little eyebrows, and Harry grinned. Until Louis asked “You going to stand there all day?”

“Oh. No. I’ll – sit.” And Harry did just that.

“Okay,” boomed Caroline’s voice. “A story from a few months ago is going to show up on the prompter, and we’re going to need you to read it out. Harry your words are blue, Louis yours are red as always. The words are going to go slow enough for you to ad lib, like I said before. Got it, Harry?”

“Yeah.” He squeaked, because yeah, he got it, but that didn’t make him any less nervous. And this was only a _test_ , for fuck’s sake. It wasn’t even live on air, but Harry’s palms were sweating like it was.

“You’ll be fine, H. I’m right here.”

“That doesn’t help.” Harry muttered, and Louis laughed.

“Right, sorry, I forgot I make your brain go mushy. Why is that, exactly?”

“Now you’re just making me worse!”

“Sorry!” Louis held up his hands and grinned like he most certainly wasn’t at all apologetic. “Let’s just read some news stories. Good luck.”

“You too.” Harry said back, and immediately wish he hadn’t because that was just _stupid._ Louis didn’t need to be wished good luck. How fucking embarrassing.

“And we’re on,” Caroline shouted. “in 5,4-“ she held up three fingers, then two, then one.

And Harry felt as if she’d just been counting down to his death.

***

Harry was near-sobbing as he walked to the bus stop.

He’d totally bombed it.

He’d been able to read the words perfectly well, told the story of a missing woman with just the right amount of concern in his voice. Then the story switched over to something more light hearted, a story about the new elephant in Zippo’s circus, and it all turned to shit.

“Must be something in those peanuts.” Louis joked, after describing the elephant’s special trick, and Harry snorted out a laugh.

The words on the prompter had stopped moving, and Louis looked at Harry expectantly, and that was when he realised they were waiting for him to make a joke. “Yes,” Harry barked. “That’s absolutely – nuts. What the elephant can do. Umm, not as bananas as the monkeys are, I’m sure.”

Louis blinked at him, then looked over at Caroline with a wide-eyed-and-very-telling-stare that lasted far too long.

Caroline cleared her throat, and Louis gave a slight shake to his head before looking at the teleprompter again and continuing on reading the story.

That hadn’t even been the only terrible joke he’d made, too; each and every one had been awful.

The best he could hope for is that they found Harry’s hopelessness cute. Caroline said they weren’t looking for a performing show dog to be sat at Louis’s side, but maybe he should tell them he wouldn’t actually mind doing that.

As he stepped onto the bus and realised too late that his Oyster Card had run out of money, he decided that he most certainly didn’t have the luck for Caroline to need just that.

***

Harry had been chopping up some butternut squash, eyes teary from when he’d done the onions earlier, when he got the call.

The Caller ID was unrecognisable, so he answered with a sniffly “Hello? Harry speaking.”

“Hello Mr Styles!” came Caroline’s voice.

Harry dropped the knife in shock, and it missed his toes by a mere inch. “Hi! Caroline? H-hello. How are you?”

“Well, thanks. I was just calling to see if you’d mind popping into the studio again tomorrow? Just for a quick chat. Shouldn’t take long.”

“Oh. Well, umm. Yeah? I mean I have work in the city at two but I can come in before then?”

“Sounds good. Do you have a copy of your contract at all, with your current employer?”

Harry paused for a moment, because that sounded promising. They wouldn’t be asking for such a thing if they weren’t interested in him working for them, right? Maybe they wanted him for a few segments or something. “Yeah I do! Somewhere in my office, but I’ve got it.”

“Great! Just give me a buzz when you’re on your way. See you then, Harry.” She didn’t even wait for a reply before she hung up.

Not that Harry minded.

He just picked up his knife from the floor and rinsed it off before carrying on with his chopping. Only now, he couldn’t stop grinning.

***

His second visit to the Broadcasting House was better by miles.

He skipped his way to the front desk to sign his name in, he was only stopped once when he went through security, and he’d remembered quite clearly where Caroline’s studio was so he got there with only one minor mishap; he’d tripped over a wastepaper basket, but he didn’t let that deter him.

Harry was beaming when Caroline greeted him, radiating happiness so brightly that the woman grinned back at him. “Glad to see you back, Mr Styles!”

“Glad to be back! Do I get to know why it is I’m back? I brought the contract like you said.” He stuck his hand out with the paper clenched in his fist, and Caroline took it from him gracefully.

She turned on her heels and hurried further into the studio, and Harry practically had to jog to keep up with her. She wasn’t very tall, and Harry’s legs had to be a foot longer than hers, but somehow she kept her pace double his. “I’m just going to give this to a lawyer to look over, and then we can get right to business.” She said over her shoulder. “Wait here.”

Harry stopped straight away, watching as she continued to hurry off until she disappeared into another room. He took the chance to look about himself, noting the six or so video cameras and the lights and the news desk with BBC splattered over the front. It all looked so lovely, so much more expensive than what he was used to. He couldn’t imagine what more they could do with the bigger budget they were after. Maybe hire more reporters? It looked like they already had the very best equipment money could buy.

“Sorry about that!” Caroline’s voice sounded, and Harry turned to look at her, plastering his largest grin back over his face. “They had a quick skim over it and said it will be easy enough to break, so that’s one less thing to worry about. Follow me into my office and we’ll discuss the rest.”

Harry found himself once again running after her, until she sat at her desk in a rather large room and offered Harry one of the other seats with a wave of her hand.

“So, we’ve looked over all of the tapes and come to the conclusion that you are the one we need. You up for it?”

Harry blinked. “Sorry?”

And Caroline furrowed her brow. “We want to offer you the job. Are you still willing to take it?”

“Yes. Of course! I just – really?”

She smiled and nodded her head. “You and Louis had the best chemistry. You’re very charming, you look good beside him, and you were the only one who attempted any jokes. Sure, they weren’t the best, but that’s something I know you can work on. It was obvious you were nervous too. When that passes I’m sure you’ll be brilliant.”

“Wow.” Harry said simply, slouching back into his chair. He’d hoped this is what he’d come in for, sure, but he didn’t exactly expect it. He thought maybe they’d offer him an internship or something; that had been his best bet. “I haven’t got much experience though, I’m fresh out of Uni. Do you really have no better options?”

Caroline frowned. “Are you seriously trying to talk me out of offering you a job, Mr Styles?”

“No!” Harry rushed out.

“Because it sounds like you’re insinuating that I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I didn’t mean th-“

“Good.” She interrupted. “So are you going to take the job or not?”

“Of course I am!”

“Excellent. So we don’t need to put you on air until after Christmas, maybe even the new year, but we would like you to start next week. You need to get some practice in, learn how we do things, get to know the crew, all of that. We’d only need you from five every morning until about ten so you can carry on working for your current employer if you like.”

She paused, so Harry said “Okay.” Then she lifted an eyebrow, and Harry figured he was meant to say something more. “That all sounds – good. Really good. Umm, so you want me in next Monday?”

“Yes, that’s when we’d like you to start.”

“All right, yeah, I can do that. I’m in!” he grinned, and Caroline gave him a small smile in return.

“Well, good. Now if you’d kindly hop to it, I’ve got some things to take care of.” And with that, she picked up her phone and began dialling. She just had to raise an eyebrow at Harry for him to get rushing out of there.

He was literally running, though, so it was no surprise that he ran straight into Louis Tomlinson.

“Fuck!” Louis grunted as he fell back on his arse, Harry crashing down on top of him.

“I’m so so sorry!” Harry got out, untangling his limbs from Louis’.

“It’s fine.” Louis grumbled, rubbing his arse when he was standing again. “My arse isn’t, though. Christ, these floors are hard.”

“Ha!” Harry barked out, and slapped a palm over his mouth. _What_ did he do to deserve so much embarrassment? _Why_ was it so hard for him to be normal for five seconds?

Finally Louis looked at him, properly looked, and then he grinned. “I remember you! Harry, right? You my new co-anchor then?”

“Y-yeah. I am. Fuck, I am.” He added reverently, the realisation that he was going to be working beside his idol every day hitting him hard. “Oh my God, I am!”

Louis looked to the ground and laughed, shaking his head fondly. “You’re an odd one, Harry Styles.”

Harry groaned “I know.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Louis winked. “I better be off, there’s a meeting going on right now that I’m meant to be sat in. I’ll see you Monday?”

“Yeah, I – I guess you will.”

***

When he came in on his first day of work, he was given his own special badge at the front desk. Both times previous he’d had to wear a bright orange _Visitor_ badge, and now he had his own with a little photo of himself printed on it. It had been one he’d applied with his CV, and it was terribly embarrassing because it had been taken when his hair was at its’ curliest and his cheeks at their roundest, but it was his very own badge and he was going to wear it proudly.

Security smiled at him, gently reminding him when he was about to walk through that the phone in his hand belonged in one of the trays.

He was greeted by an intern when he got to the studio, and led into Caroline’s office after the young man took his coffee order. Which he was thankful for, because it was not even 5am yet and the sun hadn’t even come up. He wasn’t big on coffee, he much preferred green tea, but he was desperate for a pick-me-up.

“Harry!” She greeted him with a smile. “This week you’ll just be watching. Shadow Sophia. She’ll give you some tips on how to work beside Louis and the like. Listen to her, she’s bright. The boss wants to meet you too, so after the meeting stay in your seat and he’ll see you. Just got a few things he wants to go over. You following?” she asked with a raised brow when she took in Harry’s shocked expression.

“But I thought you were the boss?”

“I’m the producer of the show, so yes, I’m _a_ boss but I’m not _the_ boss. Liam Payne is the one that everything has to go through. He doesn’t exactly have to do much, just gets the final say, but he’s the one you’ve still got to impress.”

“And he wants to see me?” Harry squeaked.

“Don’t worry about it, Harry. He’s kind, you’ll like him. It’s me you’ve got to be wary of.” Then Caroline stood from her seat and waved a single finger for Harry to follow.

The conference room was rather small, a lot smaller than Harry had imagined, and inside sat around a large table were presumably his new team.

There was a young bearded man sat at one end of the table, with Louis and Sophia on either side of him, and when Caroline sat down at the other end of the table there was only one free seat left. Which was beside Louis.

Louis grinned and waved him over, and Harry hurriedly sat down. Then Louis nodded his head at a mug and muttered “Josh brought this in for you. I wouldn’t drink it though, the coffee here is awful.”

Apart from them, there were four other people that Harry had seen around but never spoken to.

“Welcome, Harry. I’m Liam.” The man on Louis’s other side said, and Harry smiled and waved. Which made the man smile back. “Now that that’s done, let’s go over today’s show.”

Harry wasn’t called on at all in the meeting, which he was thankful for. It was mainly the other four people and Caroline that spoke, discussing the order of the news stories and how they will play them out, but Louis and Sophia still spoke up and it was daunting to see just how much. That was going to have to be him next week, sharing his own opinions with these people. He honestly thought all he’d have to do was read off a teleprompter and throw in those occasional dreaded jokes and witty one-liners.

It was a shock when everyone stood and walked out, leaving Harry and Liam still sitting. He hadn’t even heard them being dismissed, though to be honest he had zoned out a good few minutes before.

“Harry.” Liam said simply, giving him a smile, and Harry returned it eagerly. “How are you feeling?”

“Nervous. Sort of confused. Very out of my depth.” He admitted, and Liam laughed.

“They were right, you are funny.”

“They said that?” Harry asked with a crinkled up nose, because no one had ever called him funny before. An idiot, yes, but funny, no. Unless he was falling over or running into walls; then he was _hilarious._

“Have you got any questions for me? Anything you’d like to know before you go out and see how we do things?”

“How come Sophia is leaving?” he blurted, and Liam’s face dropped.

“Oh. Uh. Well, I wasn’t quite expecting that.” He laughed breathily, and ran a hand over his chin. “I guess it’s better you hear it from me rather than the rumour mill. Sophia and I are in a relationship.”

Harry frowned. “Oh.”

“I know what you’re thinking! We know what everyone is going to think when it comes out, what they’ll think of her, and that’s what we want to avoid. Sophia decided it would be best that she work for another part of the BBC now that things are getting more serious between us. Somewhere that I’m not in charge of.”

“Right. Umm. It’s not exactly my business, anyway. You don’t have to explain things. I just – fuck. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. It was a fair question. I probably should have lied to save you the awkwardness.” Liam grinned, and Harry immediately relaxed. If Liam wasn’t bothered, then there was no reason why he should be. “Anything else you’ve been thinking about?”

“Is there a policy against dating co-workers, then?”

Liam smiled even wider. “Have you got your eye on someone already?” he joked, and Harry felt his face heat up impossibly. “There is no policy against it, no. But it wasn’t exactly right, what with me being Sophia’s boss, so we either had to end the relationship or end her career on BBC Breakfast. She chose the latter, and I’m very happy for it.” Liam beamed to show just how happy he was, and Harry beamed back.

Even though inside he was feeling incredibly squirmy. Liam really didn’t hold back sharing personal details, did he? He seemed like the kind of boss that liked to be the friend first and foremost, the type who’d say _come to me with any problems and we’ll sort it out._ Caroline was the polar opposite. “So you’re the good cop?” Liam frowned, and Harry was quick to say “Sorry! Word vomit! I have to work on that, I know. I’m just – going to leave?”

“Okay Harry.” Liam said with a small smile, then stood up from his seat to shake Harry’s hand. “I’m looking forward to working with you. You’re going to be a very interesting addition to our team, I can already tell.”

“Thankyou, sir.”

“Liam; don’t ever call me sir.” Harry’s new boss laughed, and Harry simply nodded and picked up his satchel and ran on out of there.

And into Louis.

Again.

“I’m going to have to start wearing some serious padding now, aren’t I?” Louis laughed, steadying Harry with his hands on his shoulders.

Harry turned a beetroot purple and shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just maybe don’t run so much? That should help. I’m just about to head over to my desk, we’ll be on air in a few and Zayn’s got to fix me up a bit. Come over with me and I’ll introduce you.”

Zayn was either the blonde or black haired man that was waiting by the news desk. The dark haired one was holding a canister of powder and a brush, so Harry’s bet was on him being the one about to ‘fix’ Louis up.

His suspicions were confirmed when Louis introduced them all.

The blonde was named Niall and asked as he offered his hand out for Harry to shake “You’re the newbie? You’re taking the title from me, I’ve been the newest member for the last few months.”

“Let’s hope he’s a worthy successor.” Zayn joked, and Harry fell a tiny bit in love. It was the accent and smart words, probably. Or maybe the perfect jaw and sharp cheekbones and stylish stubble.

“Zayn’s my makeup guy.” Louis explained. “Niall’s a cameraman. They’re both my best mates around here, probably. And Liam.”

“I thought Liam was your boss?”

“He is, but he was my mate long before he got that position. Now where’s El?” Louis grunted, looking about himself dramatically.

“She went on the Starbucks run about half an hour ago.” Zayn said, and pushed Louis down into his seat.

“Who’s El?”

“Eleanor. She’s Sophia’s stylist and best mate. Its Christmas time, meaning Toffee Nut Lattes are in season. She’s making the most of it.” Louis explained, sentences stilted from the rough way Zayn was brushing over his face. “Starbucks is just down the road. She should be back by now. Niall, go find her?”

“Right away, sir.” Niall said, and exaggeratedly bowed before he dashed off.

“He’s such a tit.” Louis laughed, and got a hard jab for it from Zayn. “Owe! I was just messing! Harry, don’t ever tease Niall when Zayn is around. You will feel his wrath and it usually hurts.”

Harry snorted out a laugh, and Louis beamed at the sound.

“Don’t laugh, you’ll only encourage him.” Zayn sighed, pulling back to examine his work. Zayn pouted as if he wasn’t happy, and Harry sort of wanted to slap the back of his head because Louis looked _perfect_.

“What do you think?” Louis asked.

And Harry sighed out a “Lovely” just as Zayn grunted “It’ll do.”

Louis grinned at Harry and cheerily said “Thanks. Now all I need is my Starbucks and I’ll be set. Speaking of which, I can’t help but notice you left your mug in the conference room Harry.”

“Oh! I forgot about that, I should probably go clean it up right? I just left it in there. That’s a bit rude.”

“Don’t worry about that! I was more just after your thoughts on what was in it.”

“The coffee? It was rank. Like you said.”

“One thing you’ll come to learn is that I’m always right.” Louis said with a charming grin.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

 “You two are going to be so fucking annoying, I can already tell.” Zayn snorted.

“Hey now!” Louis disputed, while Harry just grew redder.

All he’d done that morning was fawn over Louis and blush. No one was going to ever take him seriously if he kept that up, so as soon as Sophia sat down in her chair Harry rushed over to talk to her.

“Hi there!” she said cheerily.

“Hey. You look very nice.”

“Thanks, so do you. Very – suave.” Then she turned to Louis and asked “Have you seen El?”

“Still at Starbucks.” Zayn answered instead. “I’ll do your face.”

“Oh, would you? Please.” She said, and settled back into her seat to let Zayn perfect her hair.

Caroline hurried over then, telling them they had a few minutes before they had to go on air. “Remember, Harry, watch.” She added at the end, voice stern and expression serious.

“Of course!”

“At me, too!” Sophia joked. “When Caroline says watch, she doesn’t mean stare at Louis’s cheekbones.”

“Soph!” Caroline reprimanded. “Don’t be cheeky.”

Harry turned around as soon as he could to hide his blush, avoiding Louis’s gaze at all costs. Could he go for a minute without someone teasing him? Probably not. They did it to each other, he knew that, but he wasn’t used to their kind of rapport. They were a bit too quick for him.

Harry sat back in a seat that had been pulled up beside Caroline’s just for him, and watched from afar as she gave them a few final directions. Louis nodded, eyes narrowed in on her, suddenly looking serious. It was his news face, Harry had seen it loads on the telly, the one he always wore when they were talking about something important. Harry had noticed, after watching many of Louis’ segments, that he had quite a few expressions for when he was messing around but only one for when he spoke seriously. He had loads of smiles and eyebrow raises and hand gestures for the light-hearted stories, and it was obvious that came much more naturally to him.

Like he was designed to always look happy.

Harry hoped he always felt that way, too.

He hadn’t even noticed the point when Caroline sat beside him, so he jumped when her voice suddenly sounded to say “Sophia had a point, I suppose.”

“What?” Harry squawked, and Caroline smiled small and secretive.

“When she said don’t just stare at Louis, I see what she meant. You’ve got quite the crush. Contain it.”

“I – I don’t – I –“

“You do.” She said, ending the conversation by shouting “Where’s Niall?” to the cameramen.

“Here!” he yelled from somewhere behind them, and Harry turned to see him rushing over with a tray of coffees. Trailing behind was a gorgeous brunette with a slight pink to the apples of her cheeks.

“It’s freezing out!” she said, walking straight passed Harry and Caroline to give Louis his coffee. “You should have seen the queue, it was out the door! Never seen it so busy.”

“Eleanor, we’re about to go on. Take that coffee off Louis.”

“Oh! Sorry, of course.” She flushed, and took it straight from his hands before he could protest. Then she looked at Sophia, nodded when she saw her makeup was already done, and jostled out before the camera could capture her. She knelt down beside Caroline’s chair and said “Sorry about that. Did you want yours now or later?”

Caroline’s face softened, and she said “Go on then.”

Elenour grinned and passed her a large cup, then finally turned to Harry. Her eyes were lovely, big and brown and kind, and Harry was sure she said something but he missed it.

“Pardon?”

She giggled. “I got you one, too. Just a capp because I wasn’t sure what you’d like. You’re Harry, right? I saw your tape, you were very cute.”

“Yeah. Umm, thankyou.” He said, watching as she took a cup out from the paper tray with long fingers. Just as he was taking it, Louis’ sharp voice grabbed his attention.

“Harry!” he called, and said boy immediately looked over to him. “We’re going on soon, make sure to watch.” He had a little frown on, and his voice was a lot harsher than how he’d ever spoken to Harry before.

So Harry just nodded, and turned his body to face Louis completely.

Except then Eleanor giggled. “I love him to death, but he’s so bloody obvious.”

“I know.” Caroline sighed, and Harry had almost completely forgotten she was sat beside him.

Harry was about to ask what they meant, but a countdown started and the whole studio fell silent.

And they were on air.

It was fascinating to watch Louis, seeing him work a mere few metres away rather than being separated by miles.

He was just so much more beautiful, more enthralling, and Harry had never thought that would be possible. But there Louis was, doing his habitual fringe-swipe and crinkling his little nose up when he smiled, making his cheeky jokes one minute and turning his mouth down into a serious frown the next. His voice was different live, much clearer and higher pitched than how it sounded through the telly.

He bit his lip every now and then, and went a noticeable shade of pink at one point, and that was something Harry had never seen before, _the_ Louis Tomlinson _blush_. The cameras just weren’t able to pick that up, probably.

Even after three whole hours of watching Louis speak, Harry wasn’t any less hypnotised. His eyes always found something to stick to, his ears always picked up on different nuances to his voice. His senses were paying no heed to anything that wasn’t Louis, really; even his skin felt hot and tingly, his hands ached to touch.

It was probably why he never noticed that the broadcast had ended until Louis was staring right at him, cheeks immediately flaming red, mouth twitching and eyes icy.

His ears were hit with sound. The shouts of the cameramen, the rapid speech of Caroline, the mutters from people standing behind him. Everyone seemed to be talking except Louis.

Harry burned pink and broke their eye contact, looking around himself for the first time in ages.

People were rushing about, and Caroline was storming up to the news desk.

Harry watched her, heard how she asked Louis “What’s going on with you?” and caught the way the news reader’s eyes dropped to his hands.

“Nothing!”

“You never stutter, and I counted at least seven times that you got all flushed.”

“You saw that?” he groaned. “I was hoping that I imagined it.”

“You weren’t. I wouldn’t worry too much, you know I see more than most, but if you are coming down with something then you should have told me. We can’t have you getting the flu and losing your voice.”

“I’m fine, really. I just – .”

There was suddenly a yell from Niall, so Harry missed whatever was said next, but he did see the way Louis looked to him, forehead crinkly and eyes hard as his lips moved.

“What did you think of the first one?” El asked him, taking the paper Starbucks cup from his hand.

At some point he’d clenched onto it so the middle was dented in and the lid had popped off, but he hadn’t taken not of when that was exactly. “It was really good! Lou – they’re both very good.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled prettily, and went off to talk to Sophia.

Which was when Louis popped up in front of him, grinning big. “I was amazing, right?”

Harry nodded wordlessly in return, and so Louis continued on.

“I figured as much with the way you were staring. Quite off-putting, that.”

“Oh!” Harry squawked. “I didn’t – I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be. I liked it, even if it did turn me into a right tit. I’m blaming you for all my cock-ups, just so you know.”

“That’s – I think that’s fair. I’m sor-“

“Don’t be, remember?” Louis interrupted. “We’ve gotta head back in for a meeting now, then we can jet off. What are you up to after this? Fancy lunch?”

“Yeah!” Harry chirped. Then groaned and slapped his forehead because he’d forgotten. “I can’t, shit. I’ve got my –“

“Don’t worry. Another time, yeah?”

“Yeah. That’ll be good. Great, even!”

“All right.” Louis laughed, and squeezed his shoulder. He took his hand away too soon, before Harry could memorize every single little detail about Louis’ touch, and began the walk to the conference room.

Harry was quick to follow, desperate to get the seat next to him at the table. It was like Secondary all over again.

***

He was rather surprised to find Nick waiting for him outside the Broadcasting House.

Harry had been trailing behind Sophia and Louis, Niall blabbering next to him about what Zayn had promised to cook him that night, when he spotted him by a phone box.

Nick grinned, probably at Harry’s open-mouthed shock, and strode over. He threw his arm across Harry’s shoulders and said “So how was it? They ride you harder than I do?”

Niall squawked a “What?!” and Harry blushed pink.

“It was good.” He stuttered, very much aware of Louis’ eyes on him. He’d stopped walking, and had turned around fully to look, letting Sophia wander off talking to herself.

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Where are you going?” Louis asked.

“Nice to meet you too.” Nick scoffed. “We’ve got shit to do, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “This is Louis. Louis, this is Nick.”

Louis frowned, and eyed Nick warily, but it was nothing compared to the once-over Nick gave him.

Neither said anything, so Harry broke the awkward silence with a “See you tomorrow!” and pulled Nick away by the wrist.

He came stumbling after, grumbling out “How odd was he?” and looking back at Harry’s little group of co-workers.

“Louis? He’s not odd. He’s funny.”

Nick looked back and grinned. “He’s staring. Looks like he’s gonna explode. In a right state, he is.”

“Shut up.” Harry groaned. “Why are you here, anyway?”

“Careful down these stairs, love.” Nick said as they began their descent down to the Tube, and laughed when Harry pouted. “The amount of times I’ve seen you fall down them, you can’t blame me for warning you. I’m not at the bottom of these ones, either. Got nothing to break your fall.”

“Stop it. And also tell me what you’re doing here.”

“Had to make sure you were gonna come into work, didn’t I? Couldn’t have you skipping out to dine at some posh place with that lot.”

“You don’t need to come get me for that, I told you I can do another few weeks with you. I’m not on the telly ‘til after Christmas.”

Nick nodded, slipping a hand into his coat pocket to pull out his Oyster card, reminding Harry to do the same. After they got through the little gates and hopped onto the escalator, Nick said “I’ve begun searching for another news reporter to replace you, but they’re all fucking twats. Either too young and hipster or too old and wanky.”

“You thought I was too young and hipster when I auditioned, remember?”

“Yeah, but I thought giving you the job would get me into your pants, didn’t I?” Nick laughed, until Harry pinched hard at his shoulder and his smile dropped right off. “I’m messing! You were good, Harry, is why you got the job. Too charming for anyone’s good, but I did like you. No one is exactly appealing to me at the moment like you did.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. “You never compliment me. What’s going on?”

“Nothing! Can’t I be nice to you for three seconds? Bloody hell, untwist your knickers. Did Lewis do that to you? Get your pants all tight? Like you got a stick up your bumoley.”

Harry groaned, officially giving up on getting Nick to speak sense. They’d worked together for a few years now, been friends for about that long too, and Harry still didn’t completely know what the guy was on about half the time.

“I won’t come get you tomorrow, if that’s what this is about.” Nick grunted. “Just thought you’d want some company on your travels.”

“I do.” Harry sighed. “Thanks.”

Nick grinned and slipped his arm through Harry’s. “My pleasure. Just getting all the time that I can with you before you leave me for someone shinier.”

***

Louis was confused. _Very_ confused.

Harry fancied him, he was so sure of it. The way the guy looked at him, and got so flustered, and could hardly get words out when Louis was around were all tell-tale signs of a crush. He’d even bloody admitted to it during his interview, said something about his brain going mushy because they’d run into each other. It had been obvious.

Up until the moment that Harry hugged his boyfriend outside the studio, anyway.

It had been pure shock that kept him silent towards the tall quiffy Nick guy, but the other must have been a twat to not have said anything, too.

Maybe Nick was threatened.

Good.

The thought had him startled, because Louis wasn’t that type of guy. He’d never go after someone already in a relationship, he hated home-wreckers with a passion, but – Louis had just been _so sure_ that Harry liked him. He could have sworn on everything Holy that Harry did. Not that he was religious, but his mum was so that still meant something.

Fucking men. Louis never had been good at reading them.

Sophia and Niall had been pretty surprised too, watching Harry and his boyfriend hurry off, standing so close they kept bouncing off each other.

“But I thought he –“ Niall said, then looked to Louis with a frown. “You two totally had a thing going!”

“Maybe it’s not what it looks like.” Sophia said, but she sounded unsure. She never was good at hiding her emotions. Her face had completely given it away when her and Liam started sleeping together; she’d completely light up whenever they were in the same room together.

And people called her cold.

“Looks pretty obvious to me.” Louis sighed. “It’s all right, wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway. Two co-anchors sleeping together – it’d turn out tragically.”

“That’s true.” Soph nodded. “Definitely for the best.”

***

Louis figured that the discovery of the day before, of Harry having a boyfriend and probably being very much in love, would have helped Louis see things different. That instead of reading Harry’s blushing and fumbling as a crush, he’d be able to tell it was just shyness or something. That he was just awkward in general.

But, actually, all it did was confuse him further.

Harry would get blushy around only him, would stumble into only him, and stared at no one else but him. It had been terribly distracting the day before, when Harry’s eyes never left Louis, watching with such intensity that his skin was thrumming with it, but it only got worse.

Louis was intent on finding a time that Harry looked to Sophia like that so he could completely dismiss the crush theory that everyone had formed, which meant he gave the boy more attention, which just made him flush harder because Harry’s eyes didn’t stray once.

And every time Louis would look to him when the cameras weren’t on, Harry would sit up in his chair and look about himself, blushing that he got caught.

The whole thing was _awful._

After the broadcast, Louis went over to Harry, intent on asking what the hell he was up to, but the boy just rushed off after El to talk to Sophia, eyes wild and skin a shiny pink.

So the next day he tried to grab his attention before they want on air, during the few minutes they had between the end of the morning meeting and the beginning of the broadcast, but Harry wouldn’t get out anything more than a few stuttered sentences.

It was beginning to get more frustrating than endearing, and after the third day Louis was ready to snap.

He just kept on bloody staring but refused to have a conversation.

The most annoying part was that Louis still found the guy incredibly attractive, and _still_ wanted to find a place for himself in Harry’s pants. And the stuttering and blushing and clumsiness wasn’t _completely_ annoying just yet; was still so stupidly adorable.

By the fourth day, Louis gave up trying to approach Harry and instead went on ignoring him. He figured that would get his attention, _force_ the boy to come speak to him, but he never took the bait. He still just sat in his chair, in either the conference room pre-and-post-broadcast or during the time they were on air, and stared. And blushed and bit his lip and fidgeted about, but nothing more than that.

It was all so terribly confusing.

He said as much to Caroline on the morning of Harry’s first Friday on the job, and she just rolled her eyes.

“You’re a bloody grown man, Louis. Sort it out yourself.”

“I will sort it out! Just tell me how.” He bit his lip and looked at her with his very best puppy-pleading-for-treats face, an expression that usually always worked, but she just groaned.

“Look, if you’ve got that much of an issue with him we can start the search for someone else. You’ve got to work beside this person every single morning, so if it doesn’t work now then it sure as hell won’t work on air. Is that what you want me to do?”

“No! I just need to know what his problem is with me, so I can sort it out. That’s it.”

“Well then bloody ask him! I’ve got things to do, so if you’d kindly piss off that would be much appreciated.”

Then she picked up her phone and pressed at the screen.

Louis should have known better, really, then to interrupt her while she was in her office.

He’d just been desperate for some help on what he’d dubbed The Harry Situation. Niall and Zayn were too wrapped up in each other to talk to him, as always, and Sophia was the type to sit on the fence about everything. She was too diplomatic, and would defend Harry whenever Louis listed off something that annoyed him about the lad. El was always good to bitch to, but on this she was keeping mum. Louis would ask “What does it mean that Harry stares?” and she would roll her eyes or shrug or just plain tell him to fuck off. Everyone was being so bloody annoying.

Even Liam loved the guy enough not to share in Louis’ complaining.

Louis was being dramatic, and he knew it. It was just how he got sometimes; when things didn’t go his way, he’d rant and rave until someone fixed it for him.

He just wanted someone to tell him what was going on inside Harry’s head, and preferably his own as well.

Why did he like Harry so much when all he did was stutter and squawk?

What he needed to do was spend some time with him, because Louis always got put off by people as he got to know them. The real issue was that he and Harry never properly talked; didn’t have anything more than glances and blushes shared between them. They needed to have a proper conversation.

And he was determined to make it happen.

So after Friday’s broadcast, before Harry could rush off to chat to Sophia, Louis stormed over and looked him dead in the eye and said “We need to do lunch today.”

Harry blinked for precisely forever before he asked “Huh?”

“You and me need to bond or something, so let’s do lunch.”

“But. Nick will be mad. I need to be over the other side of town by two.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “We’ve got plenty of time then. I’m sure he’ll get over it. It’s a work think, he’s gotta understand.”

“I guess.” Harry grumbled to his toes. The he looked up over Louis’ right shoulder and asked “Why have we got to bond?”

“We’re going to be co-anchors, which means we need to have chemistry. Everyone else thinks we do, but I don’t feel it with you so we’ve got to work on it. Get a read on each other and shit.”

“Oh. O-okay. I can lunch.”

“Let’s go then.” Louis said with a nod, and pushed Harry out of the studio before he could back out or invite someone else along.

They just went to a Pret round the corner, and didn’t even speak to each other until they were sat at a table with their toasties and tea.

It was Louis that broke the silence. “So where are you from?”

“Cheshire. You?”

Louis grinned and said “Like you don’t already know.”

And Harry nodded and said “Doncaster. I was just trying to be conversational.”

Which was incredibly fucking awkward, because Louis had been joking. “Right. Umm. So, what else can you tell me about yourself?”

“I have an older sister.”

“Oh! I’ve got sisters, but they’re all younger.”

“I know.” Harry nodded, then took a sip of his drink. “I did some research on you when – umm, in University. I don’t know _everything_ but I know some stuff. Just what I’ve gathered from your twitter, really. And you have a Wikipedia page, that’s pretty cool.”

“Someone will make you one soon enough I’m sure. So what did you study?”

“Journalism, but I did quite a lot of media and creative industries stuff too.”

Louis nibbled at his toastie, wary of the tomato that was in there.

“It’s always amazed me how long those tomatoes stay hot.” Harry suddenly said, and Louis’ eyes shot up. “I’m not reading your mind!” He added, hands shooting up and covering his heart to make him look extra honest. Which had Louis’ eyes narrowing, because someone who could read minds would say that, wouldn’t they? “I just – that’s what you were thinking, right? About the tomato? I always burn my mouth on them so when I eat toasties with them in there I eat it like how you’re doing now. I just thought maybe that’s why you were… I’ll stop.”

“No! It’s fine.” Louis grinned, because this was bonding material, right? They could talk about tomatoes! That could be their thing! “It’s true, too. The worst bit is when you bite into one and you try to pull at the bit but the whole fucking tomato slice comes out of the toastie - ”

“And burns your chin off! Yeah!”

Harry began laughing, so hard his eyes squeezed shut, and Louis couldn’t help but grin back. “The cheese can be just as annoying. How it can be all stringy and stretchy, so sometimes you’ve got to slurp it up like it’s spaghetti before anyone else can notice it flopping about down your face.”

Harry was squawking with laughter through it, banging the table with a clenched up fist, and it was such a huge overreaction that Louis felt the giddiness rise up through him.

Which was dangerous, because he loved nothing more than making people laugh and Harry’s was fast becoming his favourite. And when he _tried_ to make people laugh, things always went downhill.

So he stopped himself saying anything further by shoving more sandwich into his mouth.

Then burnt himself on a bit of tomato that he spat out to the sound of Harry’s laughter.

The boy was making these choking sounds, sucking in air like he’d been drowning seconds earlier, face completely contorted.

The expression on him had Louis bursting into his own little laughing fit, the entire situation ridiculous.

It was only hot tomatoes they were laughing about, for fuck’s sake, but his stomach muscles and his cheeks were aching pleasantly.

He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed like this. Honestly, at least. Most of his laughs were faked nowadays.

Why couldn’t Harry be single? Louis was getting more and more fond of him.

It was like he’d just unwrapped a gift that he’d always wanted, only to be told it was for someone else and have it wrenched away, right out of his hands. The world sucked cock sometimes.

When Harry got over his bout of hysteria, ending his fit with a cough, he said “I should really head off soon.”

He sounded sad when he said it too, maybe even just as upset about it as Louis, who said “That’s a shame. This was fun.”

“It was, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. We can talk like this at work too, you know? Mess around and stuff?”

Harry’s lips hardened into a line, but he nodded.

“I mean it. We sort of need to, if you’re going to be on air with me in a few weeks. It feels like you don’t like me or something right now. Remember what got you this job? The apparent chemistry? It’s got to come back or they’re going to find someone else, yeah?”

Harry had paled, which made Louis feel guilty for how blunt he’d been. But it had to be said; it was the truth. “Is – I do like you, though.”

“Thanks love.” Louis smiled warmly, and gave him a comforting pat on the back of Harry’s hand that had been resting on the tabletop. Except it wasn’t so much a tap; maybe more of a grab. “But I’m going to have to start seeing that. Maybe we can start small. Stop running away from me and then we might even be able to have real proper conversations!”

Harry gave a small smile, which was all Louis needed to know that his joke hadn’t been missed. “Okay. I can do that.”

“You don’t sound so sure, love. If you don’t want the job any mo-“

“No!” Harry near-shouted, determination written all over his face. His jaw was clenched and his nostrils were flaring, and he was even looking right into Louis’ eyes instead of dropping his gaze like he usually did. “I do want the job. I _can_ do it.”

“You’re just going to talk to me a bit more, you’re not going into battle.”

That earned Louis a proper smile from Harry, one that he returned gladly.  “I didn’t know there was a difference.”

***

Harry kept his word, coming to Louis every single morning pre-broadcast for a chat.

At first, their conversations were obviously forced.

He’d come up to Louis with a terribly awkward starter, like a comment about the weather or a question about how his family was doing. But from there, as they built some rapport, their chats were something Louis was beginning to look forward to.

After a week Louis could knock Harry’s hip with his own without the other boy flying into a panic, and after two he was getting in trouble for talking about Harry on air.

Once, they were talking about a well on a farm that had been poisoning the entire village or some other such boring rubbish, and Louis said “I wonder if it’s as deep as Harry’s dimples.”

Which he got an arse-whopping for, and a barrage of questions on twitter about who Harry was.

Well, like, eight people asked him but that was kind of a lot.

And another time, he said something was as hot and bothersome as a tomato in a toastie and Harry squawked so loud the sound guy picked it up, the noise shrouding whatever it was Sophia was talking about on air. Louis looked to Harry with a giant grin on his face, and blushed beet red when he noticed how mad Caroline was. He fixed his eyes on the camera immediately, and frowned so he looked more serious, but the corners of his mouth wouldn’t stop twitching throughout the broadcast.

They would have been fired for that one if everyone didn’t love them so much.

But the closer they became, the harder it was for Louis to ignore his growing attraction.

Not only was Harry gorgeous and adorable, he was actually pretty witty too. He understood Louis’ humour, could read his emotions perfectly, and was just so bloody tooth-achingly sweet all the time.

Louis would hate him if he didn’t already sort of maybe love him. Just a bit. Probably.

Except there was always that thought at the back of his mind that kept him second-guessing everything; _Harry had a boyfriend._

A funny boyfriend, too, so he always heard. Apparently Nick was just _hilarious_.

Harry always spoke of him, and all he had to do was mention his name and Louis would start spilling out all his funniest jokes to hear him laugh, the sound proof that Louis was pretty fucking _hilarious_ too.

He’d always feel desperate after, like he was a peacock parading about with his tail fanning out, prettiest feathers on display, only to have the best fall out every time Harry rejected him. It was embarrassing, and unnerving, and incredibly dizzying, because they just had so much fucking chemistry.

That was Louis hated most, how obvious it was between them, because everyone would always mention it and it just made things harder. If everyone else in the studio could see it, why couldn’t Harry?

Unless he did see it, and felt it, but was able to ignore it because he had something much stronger with Nick.

Louis’ head felt like a whirlpool, thoughts getting sucked downwards only to be spat back out to circle some more. They just wouldn’t _stop._ One second he would be sure Harry was into him, when he’d catch the boy staring or giggling or blushing, and then the next he would convince himself it meant nothing.

It was in one of those moments that El found him, moping by the kettle.

“It’s boiled.” She said, breaking him out of his reverie.

“What?”

“The kettle? The light went off like a minute ago. You going to make me a tea?”

“Yeah, if you want one.” He sighed, and pulled another mug off the shelf, dropping in a bag of Earl Grey for her.

As he poured the water into the mugs, she said “What’s the matter? I thought you’d be dead excited for the Christmas party tonight.”

“I am.” He grunted, poking at his tea bag with a spoon. Only he poked it too hard, and the bloody thing broke, tea leaves breaking free and following the swirl of his spoon. “For fuck’s sake!”

“Shush. I’ll do it for you.” She pushed him out of the way and emptied the contaminated water into the sink, then grabbed a new bag and started all over again.

“You know I like it to seep for a few minutes.”

“’’course I do, just shut up and let me do this for you and then you can tell me what’s wrong.”

“Can I just?”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “Spill.”

“I already did.”

“What?”

Louis nodded to the sink. “The tea leaves. I spilt them.”

“Wow. That was bad even for you.”

“Harry would laugh.”

“Of course he would, he laughs at everything you say.” She put a dash of milk in her own tea, stirred it through, and picked the mug up to take a sip. Then she sighed contentedly and asked “Is he what’s got you moody?”

Louis ignored her question to ask his own. “Where is he, anyway?”

“Said he had to go to a party Nick’s throwing for him. Last day or something.”

Louis pouted. “But it’s my birthday. He should come to my party.”

“It’s _our_ party, not yours. You said it was fine to throw it the same day. You were happy about it, actually, if I remember it right.”

“Well, _yeah._ Only because the BBC is paying for bloody everything. Open bar on my birthday that I don’t even have to pay for? Of course I fucking said yes.”

She grinned, and turned around to finish off with Louis’ tea. It had been left to seep for long enough. “He is coming, by the way. Harry, I mean. You’re – _our_ party doesn’t start ‘til tonight. I heard him and Niall talking about meeting up for dinner before. Sushi or something.”

“Oh.” Louis nodded, honestly a bit pissed off that he hadn’t been invited.

“You don’t even like sushi.”

“So?” he snapped, and felt like the world’s biggest tit when she laughed.

“That’s just what I heard, don’t get stroppy with me.”

“Fine. Sorry.”

“Come on, Caroline wants us for the rundown of next week, then we can go home. Want to do lunch? On me, of course. You’re how old now? Forty-two?”

“Oh, shut up.” He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the smile. “But yeah, okay. That’d be nice.”

She smiled big and slapped him on the back, saying “Don’t forget to bring your tea in” as she left the kitchenette.

Louis loved her, he really did, but he wished it was Harry taking him out to celebrate his twenty-fourth. On the twenty-fourth. The joke bloody wrote itself, but only in a way Harry would find funny.

He forced a smile onto his face, picked up his now-lukewarm tea, and trailed after El, finding solace in the fact that he had a good few hours to come up with a joke worthy of Harry’s ears.

***

Louis was well and truly pissed by the time Harry arrived.

He’d stopped counting after his seventh shot, and persuaded the barman into giving him an entire bottle of champagne to carry around with him.

Well, more like tricked.

The barman was an idiot though; he actually _believed_ Louis when he said he could get the entire neck of a wine bottle down his throat, as long as it still had the cork in it, so he passed him one happily. Just handed out a full bottle of expensive champagne to a halfway-to-wasted birthday boy. Total knob, he was.

So when he spotted Harry, he had no problem walking straight up and plastering a big sloppy kiss onto his cheek.

“You came!” he screeched, and Harry flashed his lovely big white teeth.

“I did! Are – are you drunk?”

“Yes siree its my birth-dee.” He singsonged. But then he spotted Nick standing behind Harry, and his grin dropped right away. “What’s he doing here? I didn’t invite you, did I?”

“Wow, what a warm welcome!” Nick said, rolling his eyes. “I’m still going to wish you a happy birthday, because I am a proper gentlemanly type.” Then he raised an eyebrow and looked to Harry. “Even though I was told this was a Christmas work thing.”

“I thought it was!” Harry said, eyes wide and worried, and Louis immediately felt bad.

“Oh. That’s okay. Its not really my thing, so don’t worry. I was just joking. Did you know it’s the 24th today and I am 24? I had a joke but I forgot it. Come and have some alcoholic beverages please.”

Harry didn’t look upset anymore, was even laughing, and that made Louis smile too.

“So this is what a BBC party looks like.” Nick said, looking about himself. “Fancy. I like the paperchains. Reminds me of when I was a kid. You ever make them?”

“Yeah!” Harry replied, eyes lighting up. “All the time! Me and my sister would sit there for hours every year making them.”

Nick grinned. “They’re good, aren’t they? Used to be a bitch though, fiddling with all those bits of tape.”

“Tape? Should have used glue, was way easier!” Louis interrupted, because he wasn’t just going to sit there and let them _bond._

“Glue was messy! Staplers. Now, that was a life-changing invention. Took us half the time once we discovered them.” Harry said, grinning wide, obviously very proud that he’d one-upped them both.

Louis looked to Nick, hoping to see him look annoyed so he could hate him for it, but the man looked just as fond as Louis felt. Louis cleared his throat and pointed behind him and said “The bar’s just there if you want to grab something. I’m going to go mess with the music. Haven’t heard that Mariah Carey one for at least five minutes, I think it’s time we have it again.”

Nick laughed at that, and Louis almost took a full step back he was so shocked. It must have shown on his face, because Nick grinned and said “I like you, believe it or not. You’ll make a good new partner for Harry.”

And then he was walking off to the bar, leaving a stunned Louis in his wake.

Did he just – give Harry to him?

Did he quit? Just like that?

“You two are very similar. It’s weird. Must be the Northern in you.” Harry said, interrupting his wondering.

“Yeah.” Louis replied shakily, still not quite grasping what the fuck was going on. He stuck the champagne bottle out towards Harry and said “Take it. I think I’ve got to stop. You can drink it if you want. Might be hot though.” Then before he could do something stupid like kiss Harry just to see how Nick would react, he hurried out of the room.

The party was being held in one of the bigger studios on the top level of the Broadcasting House, one that had enough room to fit one hundred or so people comfortably. Loads of people had been invited from all around the BBC, some Louis could swear he’d never seen before, so it didn’t end up feeling at all like he could claim it as his own birthday celebration.

Which was shit.

He wanted to call his mum again, but they’d only just spoken a few hours ago.

Besides, she’d be sleeping.

Maybe he could check.

Just as he was unlocking his phone, the door screeched open and in popped Harry.

“I thought you’d be in here!”

“Only place I know top to bottom.” Louis shrugged, looking back at his phone. He’d forgotten what he had it for, though, so he slipped it back into his pocket.

“Looks way different at night. Feels weird with it so quiet.” Harry said as he looked around himself at their studio. His gaze stopped on the news desk, and he grinned as he strode over to it. Then he sat down on Sophia’s seat and patted the spot next to him.

“Idiot.” Louis muttered, just loud enough for Harry to hear, before he approached the chair.

Harry smiled at him, dimples popping right out, and he began to spin. “I’ll be starting next week, did you hear? This’ll be all mine.” He patted the armrests of his chair.

“No one told me that, actually.”

Harry’s chair-spinning came to a halt. “Is that not a good thing? I thought you’d be happy we can work side by side everyday. I mean, I’m pretty excited for that.”

He blushed crimson and Louis groaned out “What is your deal?”

“My deal? I don’t – have one?”

“Do you like me or what?”

“Of course I do!”

“More than you should I mean.”

“Oh.” Harry frowned, looking down at his fingers. “Yes.”

And before Louis could even open his mouth to reply, he had a lapful of Harry.

Who was staring straight into his eyes, chewing at his bottom lip before releasing it with a pop to say “Christmas miracles and all that.”

And then he was kissing him.

Harry was in his lap, snaking his tongue between his lips, too wet and too keen but not at all enough. Louis needed more.

But instead of putting his hands on Harry to tug him closer like he so desperately wanted, he pushed away and said “Wait!”

Harry frowned and asked “What for?”

“It’s not – I don’t want this!”

Harry was off him in a second, muttering apologies and saying “I read it all wrong.”

“No, you didn’t. I’m into you, I like you a lot, but I don’t cheat.”

That had Harry looking to him. “You have a boyfriend?”

“What?” Louis retorted, face scrunched up in disbelief. “I don’t have a boyfriend!”

“Then how is this cheating?”

“Nick!”

“What about him?”

“He’s –“ and Louis stopped there because Harry looked just as confused as he felt. “your boyfriend. Right?”

“No!” Harry gasped. “Why the fuck would you think that? He’s my boss! Or, ex-boss now. Today was my last one working for him. We’re just mates.”

“I didn’t – you had a second job this whole time?”

“Yeah! What else did you think I was doing rushing off straight after the broadcast finished everyday?”

“Banging Nick, obviously.”

“As if.” Harry snorted with a grin. “So Caroline never mentioned it to you? That I worked a second job?”

“No. Must have slipped her mind or something.” Louis sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face. His mind was still fuzzy from all that alcohol he’d consumed, eyes unable to fix on one thing, and it was frustrating because this felt like a time sobriety would be important. He really didn’t want to say something stupid but he knew that he probably would.

“So.” Harry interrupted his circling thoughts. “You like me, you just thought I had a boyfriend this whole time. I really don’t see how that could have happened. I thought my crush on you was pretty obvious.” Harry blushed, and Louis beckoned him closer with the curl of a finger.

When Harry was standing in front of him again, arse resting on the news desk with his legs between Louis’ thighs, Louis said “It was pretty obvious. I figured you liked me, but that stupid mixup made me confused. And annoyed, to be honest.”

Harry was looking down at him, eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks, eyes glassy, lips licked wet and skin with a slight sheen to it. He was so glossy; it was like looking at a magazine picture. A skin mag, obviously, with how royally fucked out he looked. All they’d bloody done was snog.

Louis reached out to pinch at the hem of Harry’s shrt, tugging it away from his body, pulling Harry closer. Harry’s arms shot out to grip Louis’ shoulders, saving himself from toppling over.

So Louis took the opportunity to lift up Harry’s shirt and lick a line up his happy trail.

Harry spluttered, and dug his fingers harder into Louis’ shoulders, and Louis smiled against his skin.

“Are we – what are we going to do? Are you –“ his breath hitched when Louis began to suck just below his navel. “Blow me?”

“No.” Louis said with a grin as he pulled back to get his fingers on Harry’s zipper. “Gonna fuck you right here on this desk, if you don’t mind. We’ll christen it and that.”

“Please.” Harry whimpered, and that was all Louis needed to hear before he wrenched down Harry’s jeans.

His cock was already hard, tenting his briefs, showing just how deliciously huge he was. Louis pushed his face into Harry’s crotch, breathing him in.

“Fuck!” Harry yelped, and Louis pulled back to eye him up. “I don’t have lube!”

“I do.” Louis said, and grinned at Harry’s shock. “Had planned to hook up tonight, get you out of my system. I’m quite happy to be getting into yours instead.”

Then Louis went back to nuzzling Harry’s crotch, smiling into him when Harry gasped. Precome was already leaking through his pants, a nice little wet patch staining the material, and simply because he was a giant tease Louis pressed his lips to the spot and sucked.

Harry’s fingers wrapped in his hair, and he begged so prettily Louis couldn’t resist pulling his pants down to have a look at his cock. It was even more beautiful than he’d hoped, so red and wet and big and so fucking _hard_ it had to be painful.

Louis looked up into Harry’s wild eyes, smirking at the matted curls already sticking to his forehead, and stuck a hand into his own pocket to pull out the sachet of lube and a condom he’d put in his wallet earlier.

“We’re really – you’re really going to do this then? Fuck me on your news desk?”

Louis grinned in reply, then ripped the sachet open with his teeth. Harry groaned at that, which was nice.

“You’re so fit, Lou. You’re just so – I’ve liked you forever. Even before I met you I liked you. Dreamt about messing up your fringe with come once and could never get that out of my head. Got a boner every time I watched the news after that. Can’t believe you’re going to fuck me.”

“I’m all about making dreams come true Harold, but you won’t be getting anything in my hair today. Maybe next time though if you ask nice enough.” Then Louis stuck two fingers into the lube packet and said “Turn around, hands on the desk, please.”

“Yes siree.” Harry gasped, and did just that, pushing his perfect pale little arse in Louis’ face.

With his clean hand, Louis clutched an arse cheek and pushed up, then let go to watch it jiggle. It was so fucking cute, the little wobble it gave, that Louis couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey!” Harry whined.

“Sorry.” Louis said with a grin, then grabbed the same cheek to push it aside so he could get at his hole. Without any kind of warning, he slipped a finger inside and moaned at the tightness of it and the way Harry gasped out an _Oh!_

Then Louis pulled it out until he could see his knuckle and pushed it back in all the way, twisting his hand so he could curl the finger up. He found his prostate straight away, Harry’s keening told him so, and he stuck a finger in beside the first to rub at it harder.

“Louis!” Harry moaned. “Oh shit, I’m gonna come already if you’re not careful. I can’t fucking believe this is happening. There’s so many – cameras. Everywhere!” he gasped when Louis gave his prostate an extra hard nudge. “So many cameras, I keep forgetting they’re not on. Fuck, it’s hot. This is so hot.”

“You wanna be filmed, Haz? I’d love it. So hot, babe.”

“Please.” Harry begged, which made Louis smile.

“Not here, babe. Don’t even know where the video would end up if we did. The internet for sure. Can’t have others getting off to the sight of you. Just for me now.”

“Get – fuck me already! I’m gonna come, I swear.”

So Louis pulled out his fingers and wrenched his trousers down with his pants. His cock was already hard simply from the sounds Harry had been making, so he rolled on a condom with ease, pouring out the rest of the lube onto his tacky fingers to slick up his cock. “Ready?”

“Yes!” he hissed, so Louis pushed in to the hilt. The moan Harry let out was incredible, voice a pitch higher than Louis ever thought was possible.

Louis gripped onto his hips and pulled back out to push in harder, and Harry trembled beneath him, letting out a soft _uh_ when Louis repeated the movement.

“Come on.” Harry groaned. “I thought you said you were gonna fuck me.”

“Cheeky.” Louis grinned. “You sure you’re ready?”

“ _Yes.”_ was all Louis needed to hear before he was ramming in again, and again, Harry moaning filth beneath him.

It was incredibly nasty, those cameras pointing right at them, his own desk chair nudging the back of his knees, Harry’s hands scrabbling for purchase on the news desk. Nasty, but such a fucking turn on.

“I’m gonna come.” Harry moaned. “I’m gonna come already. So embarassing. Christ, make me come Lou _please_ I need to come.”

“Working on it.” Louis huffed, increasing the pace of his hips, fucking in harder and faster until Harry was coming all over the desk underneath him. His arse was gripping onto Louis tighter, squeezing him so hard he could barely pull out, but he managed.

Harry toppled down onto the table, belly in his own come, before he turned his head to whine “You didn’t come.”

“Gonna on your back if that’s okay.”

Harry’s eyes dropped down to where Louis was fisting his cock, condom already off, jacking it hard and fast to the image of the body beneath him, so pale and long and lean, back muscles flexing like they were begging for his come. “Do it, babe.” Harry groaned, voice raspy and deep; it was gorgeous how fucked out he sounded. “Come all over me. Get me wet. Wanna feel it – wanna feel you all over. Need to. Come _on.”_

And with that Louis was coming, painting Harry’s pink skin white, groaning as he released.

He fell onto Harry, right into his own come, and the boy beneath him had the nerve to giggle.

“I can’t believe we just did that. Best sex I’ve ever had, definitely.”

“Me too probably.” Louis slurred.

“No probablys about it. Only definitelys.”

“You always so chatty after sex?”

“Yep.” Harry said, popping the P extra specially loud. “We’re going to have to see all our friends at the party. Do you think they’ll know?”

“If I had the energy I would fuck you again and again until you’re quiet.” Louis groaned. “You really took it out of me, love. Can barely feel my legs.”

“Sorry.” Harry laughed. “I won’t be quiet though. Think you can get off me? This desk is really hard, it’s hurting me.”

“’course.” Louis grunted, and pushed himself up, then fell back into his chair. He knew he was going to regret that when he stood up, he’d surely have to peel his bare arse off the leather.

Harry sat on his thighs, facing forward so they could see each other. Then he laughed. “I feel disgusting. I’m absolutely covered in come, and now this lube is dripping out of my arse. Gonna be the worst tube ride home.”

“Come back to mine?”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned. “Okay.”

Louis smiled, and traced his finger through the bit of come on Harry’s stomach. “This isn’t going to be weird, is it? Us working together and shagging?”

“No.” Harry assured him, face soft. “They did put us together because of our chemistry. They had to know we were gonna fuck eventually. It’s their own fault, really.”

“Yeah, but are _we_ gonna be weird? I don’t care about all them, more worried about us.”

“We’ll be fine, I promise. Can I just ask though – to save any future mixups – are we together? Can we date and stuff, not just shag? I’d really like that.”

Louis grinned, and pulled Harry down by the neck to kiss him. “I’d really like that, too. Love it even.” He whispered into his lips, and Harry’s smile was so wide and blinding that Louis thought things were going to be perfect. He knew it, actually.

**Author's Note:**

> I remade on [Tumblr ](http://harryventura.tumblr.com)


End file.
